Fifty-three years ago, the first Earth Day inspired and united 20 million Americans around shared values of care for each other and the Earth. Earth Day continues to ignite humans around the world
What We’re Reading – April 2023 – Everything Earth Month
04/26/2023
By: Megan Shahan
Fifty-three years ago, the first Earth Day inspired and united 20 million Americans around shared values of care for each other and the Earth. Earth Day continues to ignite humans around the world, yet the very existence of a day (or month) dedicated to honoring this living planet highlights our tendency to believe that we are separate from the natural world. Released in March, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2023, in addition to the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Living Planet Report, lays out the consequences of this illusion of separation.
For millennia, Indigenous stewards cultivated bountiful land, full of food, in reciprocity with life—wisely working in tandem with the forces of nature around and within them. Possibilities of Regeneration, a new animated short film from Kiss the Ground, explores the Indigenous origins of regenerative agriculture. Co-written and narrated by Lyla June Johnston, an Indigenous speaker, artist, scholar, and community organizer, the film illustrates a holistic approach to stewardship with a story about how we, as humans, innately have the power to regenerate Earth. In the same spirit, Leah Penniman, a “Black Kreyol farmer, mother, soil nerd, author, food justice activist,” and co-founder of Soul Fire Farm, encourages us to Embrace Black Earth Wisdom and recognize Earth as teacher, text, and kin.
The ecological problems we face are ultimately a problem of perspective, driven by the false belief that we are separate from, and have dominion over, Nature. So this month’s What We’re Reading offers tools and resources to cultivate change from the inside out, and a reminder to honor the inherent wisdom of life all around—and within—you.
Frameworks + Resource Hubs
Books
- All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, Edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson
- Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Dare to Lead and Atlas of the Heart, Brené Brown
- Designing Regenerative Cultures, Daniel Christian Wahl
- Doughnut Economics: 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist, Kate Raworth
- Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown
- Regeneration: Ending the climate crisis in one generation, Paul Hawken
- The Good Ancestor: A Radical Prescription for Long-Term Thinking, Roman Krznaric
- The Future We Choose: The Stubborn Optimist’s Guide to the Climate Crisis, Christina Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac
Courses
